100th Post and Ocracoke Trip

This is my 100th post! It is hard to believe that Taylor helped me start this blog back in December 2009 to document my pregnancy. I am so glad that I have this blog of Anna Kate's life. I plan to print all that I have so far after her 1st birthday party. She will be one on Friday (can't believe it!) We have a week full of little gifts to give her. We have something small for each day for her to open. Everything has to do with her "growing up" to be a big girl!

Bryant and I had a little vacation last week. We took a trip to Ocracoke on Wednesday and came back on Friday. It was really nice to be just the two of us. We actually had time to talk and finish our meals! ha! We had a really fun relaxing time!It takes a very long ferry ride!! No land in sight!

Finally, 2 hours later I can see some land!

This is where we stayed. It was the perfect location and the owners were so nice and helpful. Thanks Caroline for the recommendation!

This was our little unit. It had 2 queen beds, a twin bed, fridge, bathroom, closet, TV and a little screened-in front porch.

The first night we were there we had dinner at "Back Porch." It was so good. Bryant had shrimp and I had bacon wrapped scallops. Both of our meals were delicious!

The weather was so nice after dinner we decided to rent a golf cart to ride around the island. We really enjoyed this.

On our ride we saw the lighthouse

and of course we had to find the fire station!

we also stopped for ice cream :)

The second day of our trip we stayed on the beach most of the day. You drive your vehicle right on the beach which is nice because you don't have to haul all of your stuff from the car to the beach. There were people fishing right beside us that caught 3 sharks while we were there. I didn't get to see the first one but they told me it was at least 100 lbs. It snapped their line and got away. The other 2 were small but still big enough to keep me out of the water!

Our little set-up. Bryant stayed under the tent the whole time....ha!

Shark #1 which they put back in the ocean after the kids saw him

Shark #2 which was also released

We had a great time and I highly recommend Edward's of Ocracoke. I plan to do a post each day this week of AK's birthday week gifts. These gifts are really not much but I think it will be fun for her to have something each day leading up to her birthday. I really cannot believe she is almost 1. I remember this time last year how LARGE and how HOT I was!

Bowen Wedding Weekend

I am so late with this post! Taylor and Brad were married July 9th. We had a great time being a part of all of the festivities! It was really fun because Bryant and I were both part of the wedding party. Taylor had her bridesmaid's luncheon at the Warehouse. The food was great and she gave us beautiful monogrammed jewelry boxes.Taylor and her bridesmaids at the luncheon

After the rehearsal at the church we headed to Rock Springs for the rehearsal dinner. Everything was so nice!

Bryant and I at the dinner

The boys

Soon to be Mr. and Mrs.

All of the girls stayed at Taylor's mom's house the night before the wedding to be with Taylor her last night as a "single lady." The next morning we went our separate ways to get ready for the wedding. Everything went smoothly and the wedding was BEAUTIFUL.

Before the wedding

Stacey, Elizabeth, Taylor, Me, Melissa (Taylor was a beautiful bride:)

First dance

Anna Kate joined us at the reception and had a ball dancing with Jackson

It is extremely hard these days to get a good family shot with a busy baby!

Silly Girl!

Anna Kate has been so funny these past few weeks. Her little personality is starting to really come out (along with little temper tantrums! ha!). When you pick her up to hug her she will pat your back like you pat hers.....too funny! Here are some pics of other silly things she has been doing lately.She loves to crawl in her book basket and see how many books she can throw out. We always read after bath time (you can see how curly her hair really is!)

She loves cords and pretty much anything she is not supposed to touch!

She loves to stand on everything! Chairs, swings, the grocery cart.....you name it!

Her most recent "funny" is she will go find a picture frame of someone she recognizes and say "hey there!" and then she will carry in around for a while. It is so funny!

11 months and 4th of July Weekend

Well, Anna Kate is 11 months old today! I can't believe that this time next month she will be 1. Time flies!!What are you up to these days?

• Walking and lots of talking
• love climbing the stairs
• You are understanding a lot more. We can say "Bath time" time and you know where to go, you know where you eat and where your bottles are made. You know where the playroom is and your bedroom. You are so smart!!
• You have learned to blow bubbles with you mouth and you think it's pretty funny
• You love to feed Sophie from the high chair
• You eat anything we eat and want nothing to do with baby food anymore
• Size 12 month clothes, size 2 shoes (which you are not fond of), size 3 diapers
• Sleeping about 10 hours at night most nights
• You still love baths
  
• Books are still your favorite. I have Brown Bear memorized....haha!
• You love the beach and pool
• You also love dogs, big or small!
• You are so social....you wave and say "hey" to everyone you meet. You love to go to the store because of this and ride in the buggy!
  
• You are going to your first wedding this weekend!!
• We love you to pieces!!

We had a great 4th of July weekend. These pictures downloaded backwards so I will start with yesterday and move to Saturday.
Last night we ate at Nannys with Bryant's family and then took AK down to Station 1 to watch the fireworks. She loved it! She kept pointing and clapping. It started raining so we were lucky we were in the truck bays.

At the fireworks

Playing outside at Nannny's house: Abby, Jackson, Anna Kate

Riding on the 4-wheeler with daddy....we really haven't found anything she is afraid of!

Riding with Jackson in the Arctic Cat

We bought Anna Kate a pool the other day and blew it up yesterday for her to try out. Connor, Jackson, and Abby came over to play! AK loooooooves the pool!

Abby, AK, Connor

Sophie got in too! She was not very happy!

Going down the slide with Connor

On Saturday we went down to the beach to be with my parents and go to the pool. We cooked out with them and spent the night. We came back on Sunday for a cook-out with Elizabeth and Bryan.

Our little family :)

Anna Kate and Dowdy

Hangin' out with Connor

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. Thank you to all those past, present, and future who protect our country!!

Peekaboo!!